


like real people do

by platonics



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Coming Out, Communication, Developing Relationship, Drinking & Talking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Lack of Communication, Lowercase, Nonbinary Shinguji Korekiyo, Other, Vignette, theres both
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:55:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29057811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/platonics/pseuds/platonics
Summary: afterwards, with the faint taste of blood in her mouth, she said she liked kissing them, but that it would be better if it didn’t hurt. kiyo got very quiet then, and it wasn’t until much later that she realized the silence meant they were only then grasping the idea that it didn’t have to.the growth of kiyo and himiko's relationship traced through kisses.
Relationships: Shinguji Korekiyo/Yumeno Himiko
Kudos: 12





	like real people do

**Author's Note:**

> working on a longer wip atm but that probably won't be done for quite some time yet & i needed a small break from it so i whipped this up
> 
> it was supposed to be fluffy slice of life and then got angsty by mistake sorry. the ending is happy tho <3

the first kiss wasn’t much of anything, as kisses went. it was indirect, fleeting. covered. she hadn’t gained enough of their trust yet for it to be anything else. in hindsight it made sense, and in the moment, she didn’t really care. she was happy to be getting their affection at all, no matter what form it took. 

“thank you,” they said. “for a lovely afternoon.” then, elegant and chivalrous as could be, they took her hand, lifting it to press to their masked face. there was no actual contact. all she felt against her skin was fabric and metal, none of the warmth of their lips, but it was unmistakably intended to be a kiss. 

“it was nothing,” she muttered, face getting dangerously close to matching her hair. “i mean, it was no problem. i had fun too. i’d never done tea ceremony before.”

their eyes were sparkling, crinkling at the corners in a smile. 

“it wasn’t a real tea ceremony,” they said. 

“well, yeah. no. i know.” she was blushing even more; she could feel it. it had been a much more casual, stripped down version of tea ceremony. closer to a tea party with matcha, peppered with anthropological facts, but wording it like that felt far too juvenile. 

“it was fun anyway,” she added, shrugging. “it...helped charge up my mana.”

“i’m pleased to hear that. we can do it again sometime if you wish.” they trailed a hand along her arm, making her shiver. they never touched anyone else, casually or not. 

“sure. whenever you want, shinguuji.” she gave them a crooked smile, pre-sunset light filtering into the classroom they’d been using for their ‘ceremony.’ 

they kissed her again right then. they leaned in, pressing their masked lips to her forehead, then walked her back to the dorms. technically, then, it was the second, but she counted the whole thing as their first, both together.

* * *

it took a long while, but eventually the real second time was in her dorm room, when she first saw their face. she could tell they were tense, even though they were the one who decided to show her, but she didn’t know why. they just kept muttering something under their breath, something about their sister. 

“your sister would be mad if she knew we were friends?” she tried, just guessing from context and the few words she could pick out. they startled, like her words pulled them out of a daydream, or something darker than that.

“sure,” they said. “something like that. among other things.” they said, as they’d mentioned before, that their sister was very lonely and didn’t have many friends. that she might take it poorly if they had less time for her all of a sudden. privately, himiko thought that sounded a little unhealthy, but she didn’t say so. not that time. they insisted they had to take care of her (in ways she still didn’t know the half of).

“well,” she said, watching the way their lashes fluttered, like they were hanging on her every word. “i could try to be friends with her, if we ever get a chance to meet. it makes sense to get to know your family, since...i kind of want to be more than just your friend. so it wouldn’t be much of a pain.”

she thought what she said was a good thing, a nice thing, but korekiyo looked as if someone had stabbed them, beautiful features contorting into something utterly pained. only for an instant though, and then they were back to looking as serene as always.

“she would like that,” they said, though they didn’t sound happy at all. “but...”

“but what?”

“never mind. your offer is appreciated.” they kissed her then, one hand at the small of her back and the other cupping her jaw. it was her first real one, and she could tell they were good at it, but it was rougher than she expected, overwhelming and bordering on aggressive.

afterwards, with the faint taste of blood in her mouth, she said she liked kissing them, but that it would be better if it didn’t hurt. kiyo got very quiet then, and it wasn’t until much later that she realized the silence meant they were only then grasping the idea that it didn’t have to.

* * *

the third time they kissed her, it was gentler. it was slow and soft but no less eager, as they asked her between meetings of their lips if it was better than the other day. it was, and she said so. it was like they were trying to mold their technique to suit her, bandaged fingers stroking through her hair.

the lipstick they were wearing that day tasted like strawberries, pleasantly sweet against her lips, and they giggled when their noses bumped by mistake.

once again, it wasn’t until much later that she realized they were learning too, that they’d never gotten to choose before. not until much later that she realized exactly what their sister did to them.

time blurred, the minutes melting together with kiyo leaning over her like that, their hair occasionally tickling her face or neck in a way that reminded her it was all really happening. their hangout had started with an anthropology lecture, but somehow got to the point of making out on her bed (yes, hers again, because she’d still never been in their room).

“kiyo-chan,” she said upon opening her eyes, relishing the blush that climbed across their cheekbones. given names were still a new thing between them, and she knew it wouldn’t fluster them forever. “if we’re gonna keep doing this, i think it’s safe to say we’re more than friends.”

“maybe so.”

“so...are you my boyfriend now?”

they made a face like they’d eaten something rotten, said _“well, that...,”_ and she ran her fingers along their spine, waiting for some of their tension to drain away.

“girlfriend then?” she asked on a whim, not sure what made her say it. their eyes widened, like she just handed them a precious artifact they weren’t sure they were allowed to keep, and she nodded. “i never really thought of you as one of the guys anyway.”

that was the start of them coming out to her and the start of their official relationship, all in one.

they started spending much more time together after that, the kisses becoming so numerous she lost count. one of her new favorite hobbies was whispering to them about what a pretty girlfriend she had, coaxing them away from their reading.

* * *

they kissed in lots of places. her room. theirs — in the girls’ wing of the dorms now, not so far from her own. their research lab, between the bookshelves. supply closets, with kiyo whispering things to her she’d be far too embarrassed to ever repeat.

they did more than kiss, and that was good too. kiyo hadn’t quite stopped being in awe that things could be gentle, that they could talk about what they wanted and what they didn’t. their earnestness scared her sometimes with how much she realized she was falling.

they talked too, a lot. kiyo liked to tell stories, and himiko liked to listen. they were eighteen, and her life had been hard, but not unreasonably so for her age. she assumed theirs was the same. they didn’t talk much about their past, always dancing around it, especially when it came to their sister.

maybe she should have seen the signs that it wasn’t the same, but there would be lots of time to kick herself for that later.

they were red wine drunk and tangled up on korekiyo’s bed, talking about nothing in particular.

“i was really your first kiss?” they asked. she didn’t remember how it came up, but she nodded, because it was true.

“yeah, i’ve told you that before. you were my first lots of things.”

“i know, i know, but...really? at eighteen?” they chuckled, swirling the last few sips of wine around in their glass. “it’s sweet, is all. i’m glad i was your first.”

“seventeen,” himiko corrected defensively. “that was last year.” it was, that day in the classroom. funny how time flew by. “it’s not that unusual. why, when was yours?” she didn’t know why she asked, because even hearing the words made her burn with jealousy, and anyway, they’d claimed before that she was their first girlfriend.

they finished their wine in one gulp, and that was when she started to get concerned.

“it was before we met,” they said evasively, petting her hair. “you needn’t worry about it. our first kiss was the first one that mattered.”

“before we met...so, like, middle school?” they met on the first day of high school, after all, three years prior.

they didn’t answer, looking away from her, and the silence said all she needed to hear. her stomach lurched, not from the alcohol.

“let’s not talk about this right now,” they urged, turning the tv on. when they kissed her, it didn’t really matter if it was the fourth time or the fortieth or the four hundredth. they tasted like strawberries, wine, and a little like tears, and himiko pretended not to notice.

(‘much later’ happened when she was hungover on their bathroom floor the next morning. they didn’t buy that brand of wine again.)

* * *

the fifth turning point kiss happened in a cemetery. the freezing wind buffeted her sides and the cold stone wall of the mausoleum was solid against her back, stealing the heat from through her coat as kiyo trapped her against it. nobody else was around on a day so cold, and they were hidden behind the building regardless, so they tugged down their mask, leaning down to press a kiss to her lips.

it warmed her from the inside out, and she leaned in closer, arms sliding around them. they’d had the time to talk about things over the past several weeks. it was difficult — would still be difficult — but she knew it was good progress. that was why they were at the cemetery. kiyo had wanted her to come visit the grave with them, for closure.

“i love you,” they murmured, lipstick smudged and hair mussed from the wind. “thank you. for doing this with me.”

“of course,” she replied, still so close she could feel their breath. “i’m proud of you.”

they smiled wryly, said people didn’t usually tell them that before her. she said she’d just need to tell them extra often then, stealing another kiss to punctuate her thoughts.

“you really need to remember to wear gloves,” they said, squeezing her frozen hands tight. they took their own gloves off to put them on her instead, and she let them, feeling impossibly fond.

“let’s just get out of the cold then.” she jerked her head back in the direction of the parking lot, where kaede was waiting in the car. (neither of them drove, so she brought them as a favor). “we’re done here, right?”

“yes,” korekiyo agreed, the finality of it weighty. “we are.”

there was still a long way to go, but they were taking the journey together.

* * *

trying to count meaningful kisses stopped mattering when every day together was so special. but yes, maybe there was another. 

when they moved in together months later, finally having a place to call their own, just the two of them. 

when they were twenty and she kissed them so suddenly they dropped the ring, sending it skittering underneath the couch opposite. 

when they kissed her again a minute later, brushing the dust off of it.

when they called her ‘my wife’ to fluster her, even though they weren’t actually married yet.

when she did the same thing.

when they actually did get married eventually, and all the ‘much later’s were good.

**Author's Note:**

> they are so in love i don't make the rules
> 
> also there was Supposed to be a bit where kiyo explains what making friends w sister means and why they reacted so poorly when himiko offered that, but it didn't end up fitting in anywhere smoothly so just. know that happens along with all the other heavy offscreen talk about sister.


End file.
